The Oakland Raiders of the 1970s were a fun team to watch. They were not only successful on the field, their roster was made up of some of the all time great characters in pro sports history. The players playing for the team then included Ken Stabler, Jack Tatum, Fred Biletnikoff, Ted Hendricks, Art Shell, Gene Upshaw, and more. One of the best tight ends of the era also played for Oakland during that time, his name was Dave Casper.

Dave Casper would play in the NFL up until 1984 and when it was all said and done he would end up in the Pro Football Hall of Fame

-Dave Casper’s senior year of high school was played at Chilton High School in Chilton, Wisconsin. In an eight game season that year, they outscored their opponents 363-0.

-Though he would enter the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a tight end, in 1972 he would honorable mention status as an All-American at Notre Dame as a Tackle.

-Casper scored more touchdowns against the Pittsburgh Steelers, a total of seven, during his career than he did against any other team.

-Dave Casper’s fumble recovery for a touchdown in a 1978 game against the San Diego Chargers, became known as the Holy Roller. Raiders quarterback Ken Stabler had “fumbled” the ball forward, running back Pete Banaszak recovered it and then “fumbled” it forward again, Casper then kicked it into the end zone where he fell on it for a touchdown. The TD tied the game and the extra point won it for the Raiders. Because of this play, the NFL changed their rules so that a fumbling team could not advance their own fumble on fourth down or in the last two minutes of the game.

-Dave Casper both started and ended his career with the Raiders. In between, he played three seasons with the Houston Oilers and a little over half a year with the Minnesota Vikings.

-Casper seemed to perform better in friendly places. He scored 34 touchdowns in home games during his career and just 19 on the road.

-Dave Casper wore number 87 for his whole career, all except for the ten games he played for the Vikings when he wore number 44.

-In Dave Casper’s last season in the NFL, 1984 with the Los Angeles Raiders, he caught just four passes. Two of those were for touchdowns though.

-Coincidentally, Dave Casper had just four receptions total in both his first and last season in the National Football League.

-No one threw more touchdown passes to Dave Casper during his Hall of Fame career than Ken Stabler who teamed up with him for 38 TDs.

-Ken Stabler and Dave Casper teamed up for touchdowns with the Raiders for a number of seasons, and then later on did so again when they were teammates on the Houston Oilers.

-Though he was a tight end, Dave Casper also ran the ball during his career. He finished with six carries for 27 yards.

-Though he is known more for his time with the Raiders, Casper’s longest run (8 yards) and longest reception (52 yards) both came while he was playing with the Oilers.

-Casper caught 35 touchdown passes as a Raiders tight end. 31 of those were thrown to him by Ken Stabler. Three other players combined for the other four, with Marc Wilson throwing him two, Dan Pastorini completing one to him, and his first non-Stabler touchdown pass was thrown by Mike Rae in the last game of the 1976 season.

-In the last game of the 1978 season, Dave Casper attempted a pass. It ended up being an incompletion.

-Casper’s first NFL touchdown reception ever was a five yarder in the first quarter of a 27-7 win over the Kansas City Chiefs in 1974.

-The last touchdown reception of Casper’s career came in the third quarter of a 45-34 win over the Miami Dolphins in 1984. It was thrown by Marc Wilson and went for seven yards.

-Dave Casper was drafted in the second round of the 1974 NFL Draft by the Oakland Raiders with the 45th overall pick.

-There were four tight ends selected ahead of Dave Casper in the 1974 NFL Draft: J.V. Cain with the 7th pick in the first round by the St. Louis Cardinals, Reuben Gant with the 18th pick in the first round by the Buffalo Bills, Paul Seal with the 36th overall pick in the second round, and Andre Tillman with 38th overall pick in the second round by the Miami Dolphins.

-Dave Casper scored three touchdowns in a 37-31 1977 playoff win over the Baltimore Colts. Two in the third quarter and then the winning touchdown in overtime.

-In 1976, in a week four matchup with the New England Patriots, Dave Casper caught 12 passes for 136 yards. This is the most passes he ever caught in one game.

-The most receiving yards that Casper ever accumulated in one game was 150. He did this in 1980 for the Oilers when he caught seven passes in a 17-14 loss to the Cleveland Browns.

-In a 21-20 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1981, Dave Casper would catch six passes for 139 yards and three touchdowns, accounting for every touchdown that the Oilers made that day. This was also the most touchdowns he ever scored in a regular season game.